1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an articulated litter and, more particularly, to a device for assisting disabled patients in getting in and out of hydrotherapeutic pools.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Pools of warm and often circulating water are used in the treatment of persons such as those who may have been disabled in accidents, who suffer nervous disorders, who have circulatory problems, who have become disabled by strokes or who may have been fitted with a prosthesis. The buoyancy of the water in the pool gives an invalid increased facility to move his limbs and regain loss of coordination and develop muscle strength and tone. Also warm circulating waters will improve a patients circulation and salts dissolved in the water may have therapeutic value.
Some patients are unable to enter and leave these pools safely without assistance. It does not matter if the pools are sunken with their top flush with the floor or if they are partially or totally elevated above the floor level since, in any event, a patient must climb or descend a ladder to get in or out of the pool.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,551,108 illustrates a therapeutic pool of the type with which this invention is concerned and speaks to the care that must be taken with the patient to protect him from accidental drowning. The present invention, however, is not so much concerned with the patient's safety while in the pool as it is with helping a disabled patient get in and out of a pool with a minimum of movement and effort.